


Dysfunctional Family

by EuphoniousGlow



Category: Ouran High School Host Club
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2010-07-21
Updated: 2010-07-21
Packaged: 2017-10-10 17:10:26
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 940
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/102109
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/EuphoniousGlow/pseuds/EuphoniousGlow
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Drabbles about the Host Club. Various characters and pairings.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Composition

Kyouya composes novels in his head.

He's an exceptional English student, impeccable at grammar and the fine art of the spoken word. Language fascinates him, the way a single tone or description can bring tears, or a description can paint landscapes behind one's eyelids. His class essays are always carefully structured, as finely and delicately composed as a Calculus function. He was assigned to write a report on the style of Edgar Allan Poe, and found the man's method to be astonishingly similar to his own, though unneccessarily verbose at times. Perhaps his exceptional English grades are only because he aims to be the best at everything he does. He easily understands mathematical theory, and enjoys the logical processes behind physics theorems. 

And yet, math and science are too predictable. Rigid structure is something he enjoys, yet writing is for him a more satisfying challenge. The satisfaction he gains in composing the perfect phrase or metaphor cannot be replicated by solving a math problem that is no different than any other. And yet he dares not keep a diary, for the paranoid worry that it would be found. And though he sets up the image of a perfectly structured mind, his musings are perhaps best kept in the chaos of his own inner thoughts.

So the words he create flourish ever the more brightly for being able to freely flow within him, try as he might to control them. His deepest secrets, his most private desires and dreams (does he dare?) All the things he has wanted to say, and cannot. Because he is the third son, because he is supposed to be the calm and collected one, because he is a friend and a man. He has no use for fiction, for fairytale visions and castles in the sky. His castles would only end up falling in decay, in the end. But he enjoys having his words to himself, something that can never be taken by his brothers or punished by his father for being a waste of time. 

He knows Tamaki would be delighted to learn of his hidden talent, especially as Tamaki enjoys writing fiction on his own, though he doesn't have the attention span for anything longer than a few pages. But it is Tamaki especially who cannot know the nature of his inner world, the late-night musings that arise unbidden from their subconscious depths as he dwells between the realms of sleep and waking. To be pushed down again and forgotten by the light of day. Words are his way of understanding his feelings, fitting them into a form he can recognize and understand. But when it comes to Tamaki, all the words in the world can't fully describe how he feels. So he lets the phrases dissipate, flow back into the ether, and remains dreamless another day.


	2. Two of a Kind

It was their favorite game. "Can you guess which of us is Hikaru?" The twins smiled with identical mischievous grins at their confused patrons. Everything about their appearances was alike. Brown eyes narrowed in laughter, reddish-brown hair styled in equal fashion, heights with not a millimeter of difference between them. It was a game they had played countless times, and only one person had ever won (and he had cheated anyway). They knew that every aspect of themselves was the same, and people tended to treat them as a "two-for-one" package. No one had seen them as individuals before.

Until the girl who looked like a boy came along and turned their world upside-down.

She had been coerced by the female customers into trying her luck at guessing the identity of the twins. Kaoru watched closely as she looked between he and his brother, grinned even as he could see her face ease in recognition. Hikaru thought it would be just like all the other times, and he and Kaoru would go back to the world that only they knew. He had just a split second of doubt cross his thoughts, before Haruhi pointed at his brother.

"On my right is Kaoru, on my left, Hikaru."

Kaoru tried not to let his grin slip. Hikaru was sure that Haruhi had only guessed. He touched his brother lightly on the back, and they said in unison: "Wrong!"

"Aw, you know I'm right," Haruhi said, smiling with that strange gentleness of hers. Kaoru felt a strange sensation in the region of his stomach. He tried to tell himself it was because a pretty girl had smiled at him (and he thought so no matter what she wore), but he knew that there was more to it. Haruhi had reached into the most private spaces in their minds and made them face their own identity. He wondered if normal people felt this way. He didn't like it.

"Yes, you're alike," the girl said. "But the _same_? No way."

Hikaru felt as though some invisible string had been severed between he and Kaoru. For a moment he felt dizzy and lost, as though the bond that had tied them together was gone. The thought of being without Kaoru was too much to bear.

For the first time, the Hitachiin brothers let their mask fall. Kaoru was surprised to feel both disappointment and relief that someone had finally uncovered them. Hikaru was too busy being anxious to think about what the game had meant. Only as they lay in bed at night, and Kaoru was trying to fall asleep, did he realize he had wanted someone to verify his identity, show him that he was a person too, not just a twin.

Before sleep finally took him, Kaoru thought of Haruhi's smile.


End file.
